PREP Act Exclusivity Dominates Nursing Home Covid Death Argument

Three Third Circuit judges focused Wednesday on whether a special law designed to kick in during public health-care emergencies requires lawsuits involving nursing home residents’ Covid-19 deaths to be tried in federal court.

It’s a case that will have important ramifications for the long-term care industry, which provides vital health-care services but faces claims throughout the country that it didn’t do enough to stop the spread of coronavirus during the early days of the pandemic.

Questions over the preemptive scope of the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act and the immunity it provides are likely to go to the U.S. ...